Photo: Kyle Nishioka, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Running back, Nevada, 2007–⁠10

Vai Taua

Number: No. 34
Height: 5′10″
Hometown: Lompoc, CA
Born: Oct 11, 1988, in Fountain Valley, California

Wikipedia readers: about 277 a month over the past year

Vai Taua played running back at Nevada (2007–⁠10).

Best season: 1,610; Rushing yards, 2010 (Nevada, 13–⁠1)
Best game: 263 yards; At Fresno State, week 11, 2008: No. 1 rushing game in FBS that week
National rank: No. 1; In the nation in yards per carry, 2009

263rushing yards, career highat Fresno State, 2008 3rushing touchdowns, career highfour times; last at Fresno State, 2010 6catches, career highvs. Boise State, 2008 2receiving touchdowns, career highvs. New Mexico State, 2008

Honors

2009National leader in yards per carry (7.8)

Team titles: WAC champions, 2010

All-America: AP third team 2010

Rushing

Rushing yards, season by season, with his team’s record

112

1,521

1,345

1,610

6–⁠77–⁠68–⁠513–⁠1AP 11

Season	Team	Car	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
2007*	Nevada	19	112	5.9	1	20
2008*	Nevada	236	1,521	6.4	15	79
2009	Nevada	172	1,345	7.8	10	89
2010	Nevada	284	1,610	5.7	19	73
Career		711	4,588	6.5	45	89

Receiving

Season	Team	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
2007*	Nevada	1	3	3.0	0	3
2008*	Nevada	30	243	8.1	3	54
2009	Nevada	12	99	8.3	2	30
2010	Nevada	18	226	12.6	3	79
Career		61	571	9.4	8	79

Returns

Season	Team	PR	Yds	TD
2009	Nevada	11	10	0

Season lines from CollegeFootballData, regular season and bowls. * That team-season’s player lines are missing part of the team’s yards in our source, so these numbers may be short.

On the roster

Season	Team	No.	Pos	Ht
2007	Nevada	34	RB
2008	Nevada	34	RB
2009	Nevada	34	RB
2010	Nevada	34	RB	5′10″

As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.

Game by game

2010 Nevada 13 games, 1,610 rushing yards, 19 TD

Date	Opponent	Result	Car	Yds	TD	Long	Rec	Rec yds
Sep 2	vs.Eastern Washington	W 49–⁠24	12	51	2	9	3	36
Sep 11	vs.Colorado State	W 51–⁠6	15	118	1	25	–	–
Sep 17	vs.California	W 52–⁠31	25	151	1	54	–	–
Sep 25	atBYU	W 27–⁠13	29	133	1	17	1	1
Oct 2	atUNLV	W 44–⁠26	19	188	3	72	2	17
Oct 9	vs.San José State	W 35–⁠13	16	196	3	73	2	18
Oct 16	atHawai’i	L 21–⁠27	24	91	0	13	3	30
Nov 6	atIdaho	W 63–⁠17	18	113	0	32	–	–
Nov 13	atFresno State	W 35–⁠34	21	89	3	24	–	–
Nov 20	vs.New Mexico State	W 52–⁠6	22	111	2	18	1	79
Nov 26	vs.Boise State	W 34–⁠31	32	131	1	26	2	24
Dec 4	atLouisiana Tech	W 35–⁠17	29	162	2	22	1	11
Jan 9 ✦	vs.Boston College	W 20–⁠13	22	76	0	16	3	10

2009 Nevada 11 games, 1,345 rushing yards, 10 TD

Date	Opponent	Result	Car	Yds	TD	Long	Rec	Rec yds
Sep 5	atNotre Dame	L 0–⁠35	18	114	0	18	3	38
Sep 19	atColorado State	L 20–⁠35	14	95	2	31	2	4
Sep 25	vs.Missouri	L 21–⁠31	–	–	–	–	–	–
Oct 9	vs.Louisiana Tech	W 37–⁠14	17	107	0	25	1	−4
Oct 17	atUtah State	W 35–⁠32	21	147	1	67	1	5
Oct 24	vs.Idaho	W 70–⁠45	17	146	2	89	1	16
Oct 31	vs.Hawai’i	W 31–⁠21	19	127	0	27	1	30
Nov 8	atSan José State	W 62–⁠7	12	144	1	70	–	–
Nov 14	vs.Fresno State	W 52–⁠14	17	179	2	65	–	–
Nov 21	atNew Mexico State	W 63–⁠20	13	126	1	29	1	16
Nov 27	atBoise State	L 33–⁠44	24	160	1	71	2	−6

2008 Nevada 13 games, 1,521 rushing yards, 15 TD

Date	Opponent	Result	Car	Yds	TD	Long	Rec	Rec yds
Aug 30	vs.Grambling	W 49–⁠13	12	103	2	62	–	–
Sep 6	vs.Texas Tech	L 19–⁠35	11	63	0	15	1	3
Sep 13	atMissouri	L 17–⁠69	15	47	0	10	3	17
Sep 27	atUNLV	W 49–⁠27	19	123	1	23	2	12
Oct 4	atIdaho	W 49–⁠14	21	90	3	13	1	7
Oct 11	vs.New Mexico State	L 45–⁠48	20	188	2	48	5	49
Oct 18	vs.Utah State	W 44–⁠17	17	122	1	27	4	66
Oct 25	atHawai’i	L 31–⁠38	16	160	1	79	1	−4
Nov 7	atFresno State	W 41–⁠28	28	263	1	57	–	–
Nov 15	vs.San José State	W 41–⁠17	18	125	1	57	3	−3
Nov 22	vs.Boise State	L 34–⁠41	14	75	1	31	6	44
Nov 29	atLouisiana Tech	W 35–⁠31	22	61	1	22	3	35
Dec 30 ✦	vs.Maryland	L 35–⁠42	23	101	1	25	1	17

2007 Nevada 4 games, 112 rushing yards, 1 TD

Date	Opponent	Result	Car	Yds	TD	Long	Rec	Rec yds
Sep 1	atNebraska	L 10–⁠52	3	24	0	12	–	–
Sep 15	vs.Nicholls	W 52–⁠17	9	71	0	20	–	–
Oct 27	vs.Idaho	W 37–⁠21	4	15	1	11	1	3
Nov 2	atNew Mexico State	W 40–⁠38	3	2	0	3	–	–

No box score in the source for Nov 24 at San José State, so that game is not listed.

Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.

Before the draft

Drill	Combine 2011	Combine or pro day 2011
Height	5′9½″
Weight	213 lb
Arm length	31⅛″
Hand size	9¼″
40-yard dash	4.80 s
10-yard split		1.74 s
Vertical jump	34½″
Broad jump	9′4″
Bench press	20 reps
3-cone drill	6.89 s
20-yard shuttle	4.18 s

Combine or pro day: the source doesn’t say which. Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data).

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At a glance

Career highs